The Dark Forest: A Collection Of Erotic Fairytales(44)
Never look back. Never look back.
Those were words I told myself time and time again when I had to leave or say goodbye to others. Those were the words I chanted when I walked away from my charred childhood home, knowing that not a single soul but myself had survived. Those were the words I recited as I tried to block out the image of my mother’s eyes, closed as if she were only asleep, but while my bloody father stared lifelessly up at me, eyes wide open. One parent looked so peaceful while the other looked so tortured, even in death.
As I trailed up another rolling hill, I concentrated on the cadence of my heartbeat to move my hungry and tired body forward. Beat after beat, I marched, until the sound of the beats grew in intensity. Glancing up toward the horizon, I realized that the sounds were not from me but from the approaching Maleficent army. I had found them, or they had found me.
I stood in place, hoping that zero movement on my behalf would signal to them from a distance that I meant no harm. I would not attack, nor try to run. How one sacrifices to save others, I didn’t know. But all I could do now was stand in place and wait.
Luckily, my plan seemed to work as a large caravan of men, both marching and on horseback, approached me. A large, covered, wooden wagon with bars on the windows was being dragged by mules. It slowly made its way behind the soldiers. At a glance, I assumed it was a prison transport of some kind.
“So what do we have here?” a soldier asked as he rode up beside me, gazing down in both fascination and disgust. I knew I wasn’t clean, and my tattered clothes reeked of filth, built up over days of no access to fresh water. I had long ago given up looking into a mirror because the ghastly woman who always stared back at me haunted my dreams.
“My name is Briar Rose. I am twenty-four years old and want to surrender myself to the Maleficent army. I come from Hollow Valley and am the only woman of age. Rather than wasting the time of your men to come fetch me, I decided it best to come and meet you instead.” I desperately hoped that my attempt to ward the army off with my practiced speech would save my home from any destruction from these brutes.
The man laughed and called out over his shoulder to his men, “This little rat is by far the most foolish woman I have ever encountered. She is here to willingly give herself over to Maleficent.”
The men laughed and mumbled their agreements in response, but I stood proud, refusing to let them take away the courage I was just given as a farewell gift.
The leader of the army focused his attention back on me as I willed my body not to shake before him. His stare bored into my skin and seemed to sear my frail bones. He licked his lips slowly as he clearly was considering all his options. “Very well. Since you have decided to make it easier on yourself by not putting up a fight, the least we can do is spare you the pain of one.” He motioned for the man driving the mobile prison to dismount and take care of me. “Put this beauty to sleep, and let’s get her back to join the others. We still have a few more villages to hit on our way before nightfall.”
The man rushed to me and reached for my hand. He grabbed my index finger and flipped it over. He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a small metal syringe, and pricked my finger with the needle before I even had the chance to pull away. A small drop of blood remained. I studied the tiny droplet, confused, trying to figure out why he would have done such a thing. He glared up into my face with a wicked smile as my eyelids grew heavy and my vision blurred. I tried to blink away the menacing fog, but the wave of defenselessness grew in intensity.
The prick of the finger…
Every muscle in my body weakened as the last words I heard faintly in the far off distance were, “Sleep well, beauty.”
Chapter Two
Briar
My mind woke before my eyes could open. Whatever the man had pricked my finger with had put me in a deep slumber, and my eyelids still suffered the effect. Testing to see if I could move any other part of my body, I was grateful to see that I could, although my muscles screamed with fatigue as the simple motion of lifting my arm seemed to take every last ounce of strength I had left. Shifting my weight some, I could feel something warm on both sides of me.
Skin? Bodies? Were there people lying beside me? Were they alive? Dead?
I didn’t have enough strength to sit up or move much more than what I had just managed with my arm. I could hear the wheels of the wagon crunching on the gravel of the road as my body gently rocked and jolted with the motion of the carriage. I was being transported—this much I could figure out without the aid of my vision.
It seemed like hours had passed, although I dozed in and out of sleep, so judging time was almost impossible. But with the passing of time, I was eventually able to open my eyes and glance around the dark space. The warmth I had felt earlier was indeed from people, who appeared to at least be breathing. There had to be at least twenty or so women sleeping in all different awkward positions, as if their lifeless bodies had just been flung inside the moving cell with no regard for comfort. Each woman was completely nude, and with a quick glance down, I noticed I was no different than they were. Someone had removed all my clothes and my shoes.
“Don’t let them know you are awake,” a voice whispered from a shadowed corner.
I tried to make out the silhouette of the figure who loomed in the dark, but couldn’t clearly see. It had to be one of the captured women, though.
“Lie down, close your eyes, and when everyone starts to wake up, do exactly what the men order you to do. Fighting them will be useless, and all it will do is make them prick your finger again, but this time they will give you a serum that you will not wake up from and they will toss you over Moher cliff.”